


New beginnings

by thevaliantdust



Series: Tumblr Prompts [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-06 01:03:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6731488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thevaliantdust/pseuds/thevaliantdust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first of the many promised 500 follower celebration fics</p>
<p>thesingingbadger requested: Gilmore and Sherri begin rebuilding their business in Whitestone, please!</p>
            </blockquote>





	New beginnings

Sherri knows she’s probably being rather annoying for the people around her, but she can't quite help it. Sitting idly has never come naturally to her. She offers to organize the library at the castle just for something to do, but those nasty vampires really did a number on the place, barely a couple hundred books left, and it takes her less than a day to alphabetize the lot. 

She follows Cassandra around for a day, trying out the title of ‘personal assistant’- taking notes and setting up a calendar for all her meetings, which you’d think a busy ruler would be appreciative of, but apparently not.

She even tries to help Pike in the ever growing infirmary, because at least sick people can never not need help. And the sweet little gnome, she tries. She really does. But when those new refugees appear from the tree calling for Pike, Sherri isn't entirely convinced the look on her face isn't a bit of relief to get away from her. 

The only person Sherri refuses to pester is Gilmore, because he Saved Them All and he Needs His Rest. She sits with him every night at dinner, when he’s well enough to sit, and she visits his bedside to update him on the goings on in Whitestone each afternoon. Though, she notes, his bedside is hardly lacking visitors, and she's probably just annoying him, so she makes each visit just that little bit shorter. Besides, the shorter her visits, the less time she spends torn between smacking him upside the head for fighting a fucking dragon and crying pathetically because he almost died.

The long and short of it is that she stays out of his way.

Which is why she is so surprised to see him at breakfast, and most surprisingly, walking over to her.

“What are you doing out of bed?” she queries, standing to pull out a chair for him, but he waves her away.

“It’s about time I stopped lazing about,” he chuckles in his usual bass tones. 

Sherri frowns. “I don’t think Pike would agree,” she challenges, eyebrows furrowed.

“Ah, but the lovely Pike is no longer here to keep me chained to my sick bed,” he grins, allowing his genuine affection for the small gnome to shine through, “so I am now free to convalesce in the manner of my choosing.”

Sherri purses her lips, recognising Gilmore’s stubborn streak. 

He smiles winningly at her, surely an attempt to soften her features. She tries to hold out, but it’s Gilmore, and he Saved Them All, and her frown fades with a sigh.

Sensing his victory, Gilmore grins again. “I was hoping you’d accompany me on a little stroll to regain my strength?”

“There’s not much to the gardens around here,” Sherri counters with a scrunch of her nose.

“Which is why I’m suggesting a walk into Whitestone proper,” he returns smoothly, as if hoping to glide over the fact that it’s at least an hour’s walk.

“Not on my watch,” Sherri fires back, the crease between her eyebrows returning with a vengeance. 

For the first time in this exchange, Gilmore’s features lose their showmanship.

“Good gods woman!” he exclaims in fond irritation, lowering his voice instinctively as heads turn in his direction. “I have been bedridden for longer than either my dignity or my sanity allow. I’ll walk all the way back to Emon if I’m so inclined.”

Sherri pushes her seat back as she stands, drawing herself up to her full height, still a rather unimposing image, but the fury in her eyes makes even Gilmore shrink.

“Don’t be a fool, Shaun.” she chides acidically. “I’ll have a word with Cassandra about arranging a carriage into Whitestone if you’re that damn insistent. The girl seems to be rather sweet on you, I can’t imagine she’d refuse. But don’t for a moment think I’ll allow you to run yourself ragged out of pride and stubbornness. Now sit down and eat some goddamn toast!”

Gilmore slowly sinks into his seat, head bowed in what Sherri thinks is contrition, until she catches sight of his shoulders shaking, and he looks up at her with silent mirth,

“I knew you couldn’t tip toe around me forever,” he tells her with a wide smile. 

She glares at him, stacking his plate high with various breakfast foods, pouring a large glass of orange juice and setting them none-too-subtly in front of him, finally allowing herself a small satisfied smile as she sits back down. Perhaps things would go back to normal eventually after all.

**

At Gilmore’s insistence, they leave the carriage as they enter the town of Whitestone. Sherri begrudgingly acquiesces with the proviso that they’ll return to the carriage the moment he begins to tire, all the while shaking her head at the man’s ego. 

They stroll down street after street of the slowly rebuilding city. Gilmore is in good spirits, greeting people left and right with his usual charm. Sherri, for her part, enjoys the sensation of sinking back into his shadow. It is something she has always appreciated about Gilmore- he’s personable enough for them both. They're an odd pair but they work.

It's not until they reach the open square surrounding the large tree in the centre of Whitestone that Sherri suddenly realizes Gilmore has had a destination in mind this whole time. Squinting suspiciously, she spins to face him, only to be met with the showy grin he reserves for customers about to spend a lot of gold.

“What do you think?” He asks, splaying his hands out in a presentational fashion. For the sake of his pride, Sherri pretends not to notice him wince at the sharp movement. Instead, she turns to look at whatever he’s pointing to that is making him grin like an over eager child.

It's… Underwhelming. Another abandoned, dilapidated Whitestone storefront. Larger than most, with an upper level and wooden front that was probably beautiful once. But still just an empty building.

Dryly, she says as much.

“Ah,” Gilmore says with thee coy smile that means the bargain has gone just the way he hoped, “but it's our abandoned storefront!”

Sherri’s eyes go wide as she grasps Gilmore’s meaning. Suddenly there is no more beautiful half-broken building in the world. Mind whirring, she can only get sentence fragments past her lips.

“But it's so big! Do we have the stock? And the panelling will need to be redone… Can we afford that? How do you manage- did you ask Cassandra for a store? Of course not, she probably offered it to you. It's at least twice the size! Goodness gracious.”

Suddenly, as if remembering his presence she rounds on him. “How long have you been planning this, Shaun? You were supposed to be resting!”

“Well I had to get you out of the castle somehow,” he jokes, “or it’s likely someone was going to take a swing at you. I appreciate your many talents, my dear, but you're rather a handful with nothing to do…”

Sherri contemplates being annoyed by Gilmore’s teasing, but, well, he’s not wrong, and besides, she has so much else to think about now. Settling on a passing glare, she carries on with her train of thought.

“We should hire a few locals to paint the place, and maybe do some stocktake while they’re at it. Actually, we should just hire a some full time workers, we’ll need them in a place this big. Speaking of which, do you have any plans for how on earth we’ll fill it? I mean your vault holds a lot of stock but even you don't have enough magic items for two floors.”

“I thought perhaps we’d branch out a little, turn the upstairs section into a bookstore,” he glances pensively at the upper level of the building. “It was pointed out to me the paucity of publications in the city, and I believe we should be the ones to rectify that.”

Sherri nods, half lost in thought. “I’ll get in touch with our distributors, see who is still around, they might have some contacts” she agrees, never taking her eyes from the building in front of her, endless possibilities vying for her attention. 

Gilmore’s hand rests on her shoulder, and she turns to see him looking at her warmly. Letting the plans wait for the moment, she turns and wraps him in a very rare hug.

“It feels really good to be back to work,” she mumbles into his collar, “I really needed this.”

“As did I,” he replies softly, and she breaks their embrace to stand by his side, looking up at the empty husk of a building somehow bursting with hope.


End file.
